Windows Command Reference

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B1

Windows Command Reference

Programs Provided with Windows

This appendix lists all the programs installed by Windows Setup on the 32-bit versions of Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP (Home Edition, Professional, and Media Center Edition), and Windows Vista (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate), with all optional components installed. It also lists some programs installed by Windows Update and Automatic Updates.

The purpose of this appendix is to help you identify programs that you find running in your Task Manager window, and to let you browse for interesting standard programs that you might not be aware of. The programs fall into several categories:

Graphical User Interface (GUI) programs, such as Notepad and Internet Explorer. GUI programs are delivered as executable files with an .EXE filename extension.

Command-line (console) utilities such as ping and dir. Most command-line programs are delivered as executable (.EXE and .COM) files, with the exception of a few script files (.VBS and .JS), and some "built-in" commands that are handled directly by the command prompt processor cmd.exe or .

Control Panel applets, screensavers, and Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snapins. The files have corresponding filename extensions: .SCR for screensavers, .MSC for MMC snap-ins, and .CPL for Control Panel applets.

Components such as device drivers, Windows services, and programs used solely as "helper" components of other programs. These programs may have a filename extension that makes them look like standard programs, but they are not useful on their own.

This appendix does not list the optional programs installed from the \TOOLS folder on the Windows Setup CD-ROM or DVD, although it does lists a few subcomponents of these tools that end up under your \windows folder. The tools themselves are listed in Appendix A, "Windows Tool Reference."

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Appendix B Windows Command Reference

Running Applications and Components

Applications can be started in the following ways:

GUI and command-line programs can be run from shortcuts, from Windows Explorer, or, if they are in a folder listed in the PATH environment variable, by typing their name in the Start Menu's Run dialog, or at the prompt in a Command Prompt window. On Windows Vista, you can also type a command name into the Start Menu's search box, and in most cases, Windows will locate and run the program.

Script files can be run by name, or can be forced to run in GUI or command-line mode with the wscript or cscript commands, respectively. For more information on scripting, see Chapter 9, "Windows Commands and Scripting."

MMC snap-ins can be run using the start command, for example start compmgmt.msc

or by installing them into an MMC panel. On Windows XP and 2000, you can run an MMC snap-in with Administrator privileges by typing the command

runas /user:Administrator "cmd /c xxxx.msc"

On Windows Vista, you don't need to use runas, as the User Account Control prompt will appear if the snap-in requires administrative privileges. You just can type the snap-in's filename into the Start menu's search box. Control Panel applets can be run from the Control Panel or from the command line, as in this example:

control timedate.cpl

On Windows 2000 and XP, you can run a Control Panel applet with Administrator privileges by typing the command

runas /user:Administrator "control xxxx.cpl"

Again, on Vista, runas is not needed.

This technique does not work with ncpa.cpl, however, unless you have previously configured Windows Explorer to launch folder windows in separate processes, by checking this option in the Tools, Folder Options, View tab. If you are using runas, the option has to have been set while logged on to the account that you specify in the runas command.

x.scr /s

Device drivers and services cannot be run directly, but are managed by tools such as the Services MMC snap-in (services.msc) or the net start command-line utility. Some Windows services are packaged as .DLL files and are executed by the svchost.exe program. Services are discussed in Chapter 4.

Command-Line Syntax

To use a command-line utility, you have to know its particular command-line syntax; that is, you have to know how to add options, filenames, and other control information to the command line. To get help for a given command--let's call it xxx--there are four things to try, in this order:

Search for xxx in the Windows Help and Support Center. Type xxx -? | more in a command prompt window.

Programs Provided with Windows Appendix B

B3

Type help xxx | more in a command prompt window. Perform a Google search for Windows command xxx.

Note

The more command is used to keep text from scrolling out of view if there's more than one screen. If some text is displayed and then the printout stops, press the spacebar to display the next screen.

There's no way to tell beforehand which one or more of these methods will work, so you should try all four. For more information on using command-line programs, see Chapter 9.

NOTE

On Windows Vista, most of the information for command line programs has been deleted from the Help and Support Center. Your best bet on Vista is to use the -? and help options, or use Internet sources, as discussed in Chapter 9. Alternately, look up help information on a computer running XP.

Legend

In the tables that follow, the Filename column lists the names of program files installed in the various standard Windows folders. The filename's extension indicates the type of program file.

Extension Description

.BAT .CMD .COM .CPL .EXE .JS .MSC

.SCR .SYS .VBS .WSF

Batch file (a text file containing a sequence of commands) Batch file (alternate extension) MS-DOS executable program Control Panel applet (actually a dynamic link library loaded and used by control.exe) Windows GUI program, Windows command-line program, or MS-DOS program JavaScript script (a text file containing a program written in the JavaScript language) MMC snap-in (actually a dynamic link library or XML file meant to be loaded and used by mmc.exe) Screensaver (actually a standard Windows executable file) MS-DOS device driver VBScript script (a text file containing a program written in the VBScript language) Windows Script Host packaged script

The OS column indicates the operating system(s) with which the program comes.

OS Operating System Versions

2

Windows 2000 Professional

X

Windows XP Home Edition, Professional, or Media Center Edition

V

Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate

Not every version of these operating systems includes all the listed files, and the tables list files included only with the 32-bit versions of the operating systems. For instance WFS.EXE, Windows

B4

Appendix B Windows Command Reference

Fax and Scan, is only found in the Ultimate, Enterprise, and Business editions of Vista. In addition, some files are installed only if you install optional Windows components ("Turn Windows Features On or Off" on Vista).

The Type column indicates the general category into which the program falls.

Type

Description

Directly Executable by the User?

CMD DOS drv GUI ndu SCR

svc UNIX

Command-line (console) program

Yes

MS-DOS application or driver

Yes

Windows device driver

No

Graphical User Interface (windowed) application

Yes

Not directly usable, meant to assist some other application

No

Batch file, or script handled by Windows Script Host

Yes

(cscript or wscript)

Windows service (Services are discussed in Chapter 4)

No

Services for UNIX-Based Applications application

Yes

In the Description column, Source indicates the source of a program if it is not installed by Windows Setup. Some programs can have several alternative sources. For example, the .NET Framework may be installed by a Service Pack, Windows Update, a download from , or as part of a third-party application.

Filename

OS Type Description

ACW.exe accwiz.exe actmovie.exe AdapterTroubleshooter.exe admin.exe adsutil.vbs agentsvr.exe agtcore.js

agtscrp2.js agtscrpt.js

ahui.exe alg.exe

ansi.sys appcmd.exe append.exe AppLaunch.exe arcldr.exe

V

GUI Windows Guided Help

2X GUI Accessibility Wizard

2X ndu Direct Show setup tool

V

ndu Display troubleshooter

2X ndu FrontPage Server Extensions component

2XV SCR Manages IIS server through ADSI (sample script)

2XV ndu Microsoft Agent (animated assistant) component

X

ndu Component of "out-of-box" experience, initial

setup wizard

X

ndu Windows help script component

X

ndu Component of "out-of-box" experience, initial

setup wizard

X

ndu Application Compatibility Wizard component

XV svc

Application Layer Gateway Service--Provides support for third-party protocol plug-ins for ICS and ICF

2XV DOS ANSI screen driver for MS-DOS subsystem

V

CMD IIS Application Server admin tool

2XV DOS Makes directories appear "local" (archaic)

V

ndu Microsoft .NET ClickOnce launch utility

2

ndu Used by Windows boot process

Filename arcsetup.exe arp.exe arpidfix.exe aspnet_compiler.exe aspnet_regbrowsers.exe

aspnet_regiis.exe

aspnet_regsql.exe

aspnet_state.exe

aspnet_wp.exe

aspnetca.exe asr_fmt.exe asr_ldm.exe

asr_pfu.exe at.exe AtBroker.exe

atmadm.exe attrib.exe audioconverter.exe

audiodg.exe audit.exe auditpol.exe auditusr.exe author.exe

autochk.exe autoconv.exe

autoexec.bat autofmt.exe autolfn.exe AxInstUI.exe

Programs Provided with Windows Appendix B

B5

OS Type Description

2

ndu Used by Windows boot process

2XV CMD Displays and edits ARP cache (TCP/IP)

X

ndu Windows Update component

V

CMD application compiler

V

CMD Adds data on web browsers to data-

base

2XV CMD Used to maintain correct linkage between different installed versions of .NET Framework and applications installed under IIS (source: .NET Framework)

V

CMD Associates MS SQL Server databases with

applications

2XV svc

Holds session state data for web-based applications (source: .NET Framework)

2XV ndu

runtime process--CGI application that runs web-based applications on behalf of IIS (source: .NET Framework)

V

ndu setup component

X

CMD Automated System Recovery backup and restore

X

CMD Automated System Recovery Logical Disk man-

ager

X

ndu Automated System Recovery component

2XV CMD Schedules program to run automatically (obsolete)

V

ndu Supports Accessibility tools across Remote

Desktop sessions

2X CMD Displays ATM Call Manager statistics

2XV CMD Displays and sets file/folder attributes

X

GUI Windows Audio Converter, converts music files

between different encoding formats (source:

Standard on MCE, otherwise Plus! for Windows

XP)

V

ndu Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation

V

ndu Windows setup component

V

CMD Audit Policy configuration tool

X

CMD Manages per-user audit policy settings

2X ndu

FrontPage Server Extensions component (CGI application)

2XV ndu Checks and repairs Windows File Systems

2XV ndu

Automates the file system conversion during reboots

XV DOS Batch file executed upon Windows startup

2XV ndu Automates the file format process during reboots

2X ndu Used for formatting long filenames

V

ndu ActiveX Installer Service

(continues)

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